Julius Thomas looks to turn great Broncos season into career success

In NFL locker rooms, the difference between a great year and a great career can be how a player handles his first experience with success.

Joel Dreessen was a solid NFL player who saw his share of young egos expand whenever they were fed by the spotlight. Dreessen doesn't see that in Julius Thomas, who ultimately replaced him as the Broncos' starting tight end.

"He's going to be a very special player," Dreessen said. "It was fun to watch him grow up last season. In this offseason, he really impressed me with his attitude and work ethic and how hungry he was."

Thomas wasn't the first NFL player to break out from obscurity and have a terrific season. After catching one pass through his first two, injury-plagued seasons, Thomas made 65 receptions last year, 12 for touchdowns. He made the Pro Bowl team. He played in the Super Bowl.

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And he wasn't satisfied. The 2013 season was great as it stands next to his first two. The plan is to have those numbers look smaller as Thomas' career moves along.

"I'm not sure what I did last year will be considered a high level when I'm done playing," he said. "I still have so much to learn. Statistically you can do well, but it doesn't mean I did everything well."

A desire for greatness led Thomas to look up Tony Gonzalez this offseason. Thomas is resourceful that way. During the 2011 lockout, he was the only Broncos rookie to figure out how to attend the team's player-supervised workouts with trainer Loren Landow at Valor Christian High School.

Thomas demonstrated ambition again this offseason when he sought out the greatest receiving tight end in NFL history. Gonzalez was the first of several former college basketball players to become a star NFL tight end. Thomas is the latest.

Thomas found out he and Gonzalez live fairly close to each other in the southern Los Angeles area and arranged to meet with the league's all-time leader in nearly every tight end category.

"I picked his brain on, what are sort of the things you're looking for?" Thomas said. "Not just technique, but what's going through your mind during plays? What do you focus on? How do you prepare for the day? His routine. Stuff you can only get from playing 17 years in the league. This is a guy who they've probably already started making his bronze statue."

Thomas flashed enough last year for Broncos management to believe he warrants a nice, new contract. A free agent after this season, Thomas would like to play in Denver for a while. But that's the extent of his financial and future concern now that training camp has begun.

"You can't focus on something like that" Thomas said. "That's the kind of stuff that takes away from what you want to do here. If you want to be professional, you want to be a consistently great player, you can't focus on anything that takes away from what we're trying to do as a team."

It's generally believed it will be impossible for the Broncos' offense to improve on last season's record-setting production. Thomas, though. is perhaps the one Peyton Manning weapon who has the most room between last season and his ceiling.

Thomas worked this offseason to improve his footwork and technique for route running, strength and technique for run blocking. And he wants to be smarter about figuring out defenses on the fly.

Gonzalez gave him tips in one conversation. Dreessen advised here and there during the past two years. Despite these heady times, Thomas is a young player who was willing to listen.

"Even before Joel's knee injury, he would talk about how in football, it can all be gone," Thomas said. "That's something he and I both know for personal experience. We both have been through a lot of trials and tribulations early in our career. We both understood that you can't expect to come to work each day thinking you're going to be able to do this for six more years.

"The way I approach every day is enjoy it, give it 100 percent and cross your fingers, say your prayers and hope it lasts forever."

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